Cash-for-votes scam probe by Delhi Police to be completed soon

NEW DELHI: Investigation by Delhi Police into allegations of cash-for-votes during Trust Vote in Lok Sabha in 2008 will be completed soon and the charge that a political party engineered the sting operation would also be probed, Home Minister P Chidambaram said today.

Participating in the short duration discussion on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on the WikiLeaks expose, Chidambaram said, "Investigation is in progress and will be completed shortly."

He said while the police investigates evidence including the forensic reports, allegations that a political party "engineered and manufactured" the sting operation would also be probed.

Asserting that the probe would be thorough and taken to its logical conclusion, Chidambaram said that revelations have come that the sting operation by a television channel was not an independent journalistic exercise but a "deliberate attempt in collaboration with a political party."

Chidambaram, a noted lawyer, and Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley, also an eminent lawyer, clashed frequently on the Prime Minister's comment that there was no conclusive evidence by the Parliamentary committee that votes were purchased for the trust vote.

The Home Minister sought to demolish the argument of BJP that the UPA government did not enjoy the confidence of the Lok Sabha and was reduced to a minority.

Without naming BJP, Chidambaram said that according to allegations another political party was looking for buyers for their MPs for the so-called sting operation.

"This was deliberate attempt to destabilise a sitting government," he said adding that the UPA government enjoys the total confidence of the people "whatever sting operations (are done), whatever engineered."

Pointing out a conflicting role of the Home Minister, who is also in charge of Delhi Police investigating into the case, Jaitley said, "You are demolishing investigation of your own colleagues... You have created cover up..."

However, Chidambaram said that the police is responsible to the law of the land and not to an individual. "Police owes its obedience to law...no man".